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viol

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Any of a family of bowed stringed instruments that preceded the violin family.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

vyuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈvaɪəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. music

    Any of a family of bowed stringed instruments that preceded the violin family

  2. music

    A stringed instrument related to the violin family, but held in the lap between the legs like a cello, usually with C-holes, a flat back, a fretted neck and six strings, played with an underhanded bow hold.

  3. nautical

    A large rope used to manipulate the anchor

verb

  1. To play the viol.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Any of a family of bowed stringed instruments that preceded the violin family

Used this way, viol is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Music/performance
  • Arts writing
  • Family/home

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Family / stringed

viol family

Large

division viol

Other combinations

bass viollyra violtreble violviol playertenor violviol music

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • violencenounDerived noun

    An act of aggression (as one against a person who resists).

  • violationnounDerived noun

    A crime less serious than a felony.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • viola d'amorenounRelated term

    Viol that is the tenor of the viol family.

  • viola da braccionounRelated term

    A member of the viol family with approximately the range of a viola.

  • viola da gambanounRelated term

    Viol that is the bass member of the viol family with approximately the range of the cello.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.